The invention relates to safety-and-arming mechanisms for explosive devices such as mines, missiles and rockets which are launched from a launcher tube.
As a rule, the safety-and-arming mechanism of an explosive device of this kind comprises a primer-bearing slider locked by at least two independently driven latches. The latches may only move out of the way after some time after launching, and this feature entails sensing the sequence or time of ejection.
French Patent 85 08183 proposes a safety-and-arming mechanism for an explosive device such as a mine ejected by a launcher tube. This device comprises two latches of which one rests against the launcher tube. The manufacturing tolerances for the launcher tube, the explosive device and these constituent components are such that the latch length must not vary by several mm to operate properly.
This dispersion in tolerances entails the need to match each explosive device to its launcher tube. Accordingly, the latch length must be matched to the measurements carried out on each part entering the sequence of measurements. To mitigate the problem of custom-made latches, a set of latches with increasing lengths may be manufactured. However, this solution still requires measurements and having a stock of latches on hand. Therefore it is a very cumbersome matter to integrate the explosive devices into their launcher tubes and automation is precluded.
The object of the present invention is provision of a safety-and-arming mechanism fitted with a standard latch regardless of the manufacturing tolerances of the various parts of the explosive device and of the launcher tube.
Another object of the present invention is to assure a constant force on the latch of the safety-and-arming mechanism.